“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson Have you ever been to a trampoline park and watched the faces of the parents there? It’s quite interesting as we regress almost instantly after the first jump. Fa…
Category: Infectious disease
Wisconsin and Anthony Fauci prove physicians need to and can be national leaders
If one of your patients told you he is going to go spend a few hours hanging out in the cold this week with a bunch of people who might have coronavirus, what would your advice be? That is exactly the situation thousands of people in Wisconsin faced o…
I’m sorry: a letter from a pathology resident on the frontlines
I hope that this letter finds you (and myself) alive and well after all this COVID-19 craziness ends. I never really got the chance to explain everything when I was taking care of you. It wasn’t your fault you ended up at the hospital when you did, and…
COVID-19 is a story of human beings
As a medical student now in the time of COVID-19, many friends and family have turned to me seeking advice and guidance in an uncertain time. I’ve appreciated how my different experiences in medical school have prepared me for this responsibility. My i…
The enormous potential of a universal mask policy in America’s response to COVID-19
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, experts and officials largely cautioned Americans against wearing face masks in public. Surgeon General Jerome Adams had tweeted, “Seriously people- STOP BUYING MASKS!” to encourage basic hygiene …
How do we grieve in a pandemic?
A few weeks ago, I wondered aloud whether people grieve the same in the middle of a pandemic. A pandemic or other tragedies like earthquakes or tsunamis, when there are hundreds or thousands of people grieving for their lost family members and friends,…
How COVID-19 affects this family physician at work and at home
I am sitting at my kitchen table. To my right is my daughter, 9; to my left, my son, 11. They are drawing, reading, doing work that their teachers have diligently sent electronically. Between quiet stretches and fighting between my kids, I try to keep …
A physician’s letter to coronavirus
I hate to say this, but you were right. We hadn’t come across something such as yourself, at least in our lifetime. Young, old, retired, or working—you were an entirely new beast to us. You had the world turned on its head in a matter of months and beg…
We don’t talk in terms of supply numbers. We talk in terms of days.
Brown paper bags line the windowsill of the COVID-19 intensive care unit at Eskenazi Hospital in downtown Indianapolis. The bags are filled with the N95 masks we’re reusing, labeled with the handwritten names of my staff: Patrick, Angela, Brittan…
A thank you to emergency physicians
I want to write a letter of thanks for all the sacrifices you have made for our nation during this COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you for all the lives you have saved. Thank you for fighting to save all the lives that were lost. Thank you for leaving your ho…
